CO2-capture company Calcarea Inc. and sustainability-focused naval architecture and marine engineering company Aurelia Design have entered into a collaboration to design a bulk carrier that captures and stores atmospheric CO2 as it travels.
Calcarea’s technology mimics the process by which the ocean ecosystem turns atmospheric CO2 into bicarbonates that can be safely stored on the sea floor. When the ocean absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere it makes the water acidic. That acidity reacts with weak bases in ocean sediments to create bicarbonate ions and lock the CO2 into the ocean floor. This process takes a long time when done naturally. Calcarea’s technology combines captured CO₂ with limestone and seawater, rapidly transforming it into stable bicarbonates safely stored in the ocean.
Aurelia, which specializes in green technology design integration on board ships, will lead the naval architecture, system integration, and class compliance engineering to integrate the technology into a bulk carrier so that the ship is capturing and storing carbon dioxide as it goes.
The design will serve as the foundation for a scalable and class-ready newbuild platform.
“We see shipping as one of the most natural environments for large-scale carbon removal,” said Pierre Forin, Co-founder and CTO of Calcarea. “Ships operate surrounded by seawater — the very medium our process uses. Partnering with Aurelia allows us to bridge science and engineering, and turn our technology into a deployable maritime system.”
“What makes this collaboration exciting is that it’s not just another retrofit — it’s a new generation of clean ship design built around a truly regenerative technology,” said Raffaele Frontera, Founder and CEO of Aurelia. “Calcarea brings a breakthrough CO₂ capture process, and AURELIA brings the design and system expertise to make it practical, class-compliant, and ready for industry adoption.”
The Phase 0 Feasibility and Concept Study is now underway and will be followed by further engineering and validation phases as the technology advances toward Approval in Principle (AiP) and demonstration.
